


Chuffed Without the H

by Headphone_Love



Series: Irritatingly Passionate Yet Quietly Thoughtful [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Banter, Curiosity, Gen, Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio Friendship, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, M/M, Natsu really likes Dinosaurs, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Realizations, She's Tsukishima approved, Slow Build, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings, Volleyball Dorks & Nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 10:19:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15265380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Headphone_Love/pseuds/Headphone_Love
Summary: It’s the quiet moments both on and off the court when Hinata sticks out the most.Tsukishima can’t say that he ever would have noticed if not for Yamaguchi.----------Snorting, Tsukishima pointed a finger at him. “I mean you aren’t being the loud-mouthed, over excited...”“Are there anygoodwords in that sentence before you finish?” Hinata interrupted.





	Chuffed Without the H

**Author's Note:**

> Just a cute little thing I will work on.  
> I like their dynamic too much and have had this in my drafts for a year, so I've decided to start posting more drabbles and things rather than just fully planned out stories. 
> 
> If these continue will be dependent on my future ideas and inspiration as well as on whether you all enjoy it too! 
> 
> ~HxL

When asked about Hinata Shouyou, Tsukishima had a few choice words to describe him.

Irritating, loud, impulsive, and passionate.

How Tsukishima had managed to turn the word passionate into an insult, no one questioned. It was just the way Tsukishima said it with such disdain that made it clear it wasn’t a positive for him.

Yamaguchi had tried many times to set Tsukishima up to hang out with the outgoing middle blocker, but Tsukishima had avoided it like the plague. If he wasn’t going to be teasing the ginger, there was no point in being around him.

Despite this mentality, Yamaguchi managed to get them together once—albeit against Tsukishima _and_ Hinata’s will—by handcuffing them the one time they were forced to sit by each other on the bus. Both of them had fallen asleep after a pretty brutal match, and when they woke, they were connected by the wrist by shiny silver handcuffs. They had only found out when Tsukishima attempted to stretch and accidentally pulled Hinata into his chest.

The rest of the ride had been Hinata and Tsukishima stumbling around to grab the key and Tanaka ran around, climbing seats and over fellow players. It was only when Yamaguchi had snatched it—or at least, attempted to—that it fell into a crack on the bus that was impossible to reach.

Tsukishima had nearly strangled Yamaguchi and cursed the fact that his best friend had a father who was a cop. Otherwise, cuffs would have been the last thing he’d have access to.

“You can stay at my place,” Hinata had murmured, still in shock from the fact that the key was actually gone. “It’ll be less explaining to do…”

And so it was decided, but Tsukishima couldn’t help but feel somewhat bothered.

There went his quiet night.

* * *

 

“Am I walking too slowly?”

“Yes.”

Hinata went silent, mumbling an apology as they walked up the hill towards his house. The bus ride had nearly lulled the ginger to sleep, Tsukishima often shifting purposely to make sure the idiot didn’t fall asleep and make them travel even farther than necessary.

Through this all, Tsukishima couldn’t help but question why Hinata was so tired. He also questioned why he wasn’t complaining more. He’d expected more bouncing around, declarations of battle, comments about how Tsukishima was too tall to be normal.

They never came, however, not even when the lights that signaled they were close to Hinata’s house appeared. Rather than dwell on the night he would be forced to endure, Tsukishima found his eyes wandering to his shorter counterpart.

Hinata had gotten slightly taller, but due to Tsukishima’s own growth, it went unnoticed whenever they were stood together. The fellow middle blocker’s hair had also begun to grow out, tied into a tiny ponytail by the looks of it. Tsukishima hadn’t noticed originally, but it seemed that the shrimp had begun to change from right under his nose.

 _Irritating_.

When they reached the home, Hinata was greeted by a mini-me.

Hinata’s face lit up as he took the girl into his free arm, grinning at her as he usually did whenever he was practicing. He was a lot more relaxed than the way up the mountain, that was for sure.

“Natsu, this is Sting—Tsukishima,” Hinata spoke, not missing the way Tsukishima glared at him for the nickname. “He’s on the volleyball team.”

Natsu looked up at Tsukishima with wide eyes, concentrating before turning to her brother. “He is tall. Like a Sauropod.”

This caused Hinata to snicker, Tsukishima clearing his throat at the comparison. He was about to interrupt the moment to ask if they could get to eating as soon a possible, but Natsu continued.

“If he is a Sauropod, does that make you a dilong?”

Tsukishima smirked at this, Hinata’s smile falling a he looked between his sister and teammate in confusion.

“You’re smirking. Was that an accidental insult?”

Tsukishima hummed. He didn’t answer, causing Hinata to begin to whine as they entered the house.

“Stingyshima, if that was an insult and I find out I am totally going to spike all of Kageyama’s tosses through your blocks!”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, ignoring him the best he could.

After calming Hinata down and finding out how to move around the kitchen, Natsu began to go on about her day and about the new dinosaurs she had learned about. While there were a few mistake facts, Tsukishima was pleasantly surprised at how much information the young child seemed to retain. They spoke while Hinata did his best to cook with one hand, Tsukishima considering trying to help, but deciding that irritating Hinata while also hearing more from his mini-me was more favorable.  

Perhaps one of the Hinatas was actually tolerable.

* * *

 

“When did she get into dinosaurs?”

Hinata looked up from his bowl of food, Natsu having eaten first before being shooed away to shower and head to bed.

Thinking about it while resting the chopsticks against his lips, Hinata hummed. “Honestly, she just got into it recently. She saw one and completely become obsessed…” he mumbled. “I thought it would be a passing thing, but she seems really into them. It’s nice,” he finished with a tiny smile.

Tsukishima didn’t ask any more questions, the two teammates eating in silence. It wasn’t as awkward as the silence from earlier, but the fact that they were forced to eat across from each other—Tsukishima refused side by side: he had his boundaries—their hands were lying against the table while their free hands shoveled food into their mouths. Hinata was having a bit of a hard time it seemed, as his left hand wasn’t his dominant, but he didn’t complain as much as the blond thought he would.

He’d expected whining or a demand for Tsukishima to feed him, but all that left the ginger were small sounds of victory whenever he managed to lift the food with his chopsticks.

Hell, Tsukishima hadn’t even realized which hand had been handcuffed until he noticed Hinata’s nose scrunching at the effort of getting rice into his mouth.

“Tsukishima? Are you alright?”

Tsukishima paused, Hinata having caught him accidentally staring. It wasn’t as if he meant to stare, but the Hinata across from him was almost...off from the one he knew.

At least the one he thought he knew.

Clearing his throat, he nodded. “You made the rice weird.”

Hinata’s cheeks grew in color. “Shut up, Stingyshima! You’re lucky I’m giving you any food at all considering you didn’t help!”

“Edible food would have been better,” Tsukishima said with a smirk, Hinata puffing his cheeks out. “Though I suppose for someone like you, it isn’t bad.”

Hinata stopped sulking, blinking and tilting his head. “Was that a compliment?”

Tsukishima didn’t answer, but he wondered why Hinata seemed happy about it. He had just insulted the elder...so why the tiny glint in his eyes?

“That was totally a compliment!”

“Shut up and eat, idiot.”

* * *

 

“I refuse.”

Hinata whined, looking as if he would collapse if they didn’t get to sleep soon. “Look, I don’t care, just pretend it is like a training camp, Stingyshima.”

“I’m not sleeping in a bed with you,” Tsukishima said with a frown. “Since I’m the guest, you should take the floor.”

“Ha?!”

“What, not being a good host? How unexpected,” Tsukishima said with a smirk as Hinata seemed to hesitate in comprehending whether the compliment had been backhanded or not.

Rather than arguing, Hinata let out a deep breath and turned, grabbing a pillow from the bed and placing it on the floor. He took a blanket from the closet after pulling Tsukishima along, glaring up at the blond as he yanked the cuffs.

“There, happy? Can we please sleep?”

Not having expected compliance from the fellow second year, the blond got into the bed and moved onto his side so he was facing where Hinata lay. Hinata shut off the lamp, letting out what seemed to be a sigh of relief and rested against his makeshift bed.

“Oi.”

A groan from Hinata.

“What, Tsukishima?”

“Why aren’t you as mouthy as usual?”

Hinata shifted so he could look up at Tsukishima better, eyes threatening to close on their own. “What does that even mean?”

Snorting, Tsukishima pointed a finger at him. “I mean you aren’t being the loud-mouthed, over excited...”

“Are there any _good_ words in that sentence before you finish?” Hinata interrupted, his eyes locking on Tsukishima’s accidentally. He looked away first, lower lip jutty outward. “You seemed annoyed earlier,” he began, fiddling with the cuffs with his free hand. “I didn’t want to be too talkative and make this any worse than it has to be. So let’s just sleep and hopefully Yamaguchi has the key tomorrow. Then we can pretend this never happened.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “You’re more annoying when you’re boring”

“How was I boring?!”

“Because you decided to play mime for the night and there isn’t anyone else to talk to here.”

Tsukishima cleared his throat, not giving Hinata a chance to refute the claim.

“Was your little sister alone when we got here?”

Hinata shifted, not expecting the question.  “No, my mom is usually in her room working at this time and doesn’t come out after 8 pm.”

Confused, Tsukishima scooted a bit closer to the edge of the bed, pretending to shift position. “Not that I care...but that’s weird.”

“Is not! She works really hard and has many deadlines!” Hinata defended, moving onto his back. “Besides, I’m 16. It isn’t really that hard to clean and cook anymore,” he explained. “She’s the best at what she does because she works hard at it. Her drive was hereditary, I guess,” he continued with a wide grin, raising his free hand into the air. “Even if she never will see a game, I know that if we get to be broadcast she’ll finally see me play.”

His hand turned into a fist, eyes sparkling.

“That’s why I’ll get past anyone, you included!” he finished, sticking his tongue out childishly.

Even with the behavior, Tsukishima could see Hinata’s awkwardness through the act. He wondered if Hinata’s mother was a sensitive topic, deciding that bringing it up again without thinking ahead was a no go.

With a deep sigh, Tsukishima pulled at the handcuffs.

Hinata resisted, pulling back at them with a whine. “Stop that, it hurts.”

Tsukishima continued to tug until Hinata sat up, obviously irritated by the gesture.

“Sleeping on the floor will get you sick and I don’t want to hear your majesty’s voice if you do.”

For a moment, Tsukishima wondered if his attempt at moving away from the original topic had been seen through, but if Hinata knew, he made no mention of it. Instead, he quietly stood, the two teens shifting to get into bed and pulling the covers up once they could. Tsukishima could barely cover himself considering the height difference, but he ignored it.

“Thanks,” Hinata mumbled, Tsukishima clicking his tongue.

“It wasn’t for you. My arm was hurting because you’re short.”

Hinata jutted his leg out, kicking the blond in the shin gently. “Go to sleep, Stingyshima.”

* * *

 

When Tsukishima woke, Hinata was already up, staring at the window where some light was peeking through the cracks. He almost wasn’t sure if what he was seeing was real, considering that he had never seen Hinata sit still for more than twenty seconds when they were at school. He was always lively, bouncing around Kageyama or begging Asahi to block for him.

Hinata didn’t turn to look at him despite his shifting, probably assuming he was asleep and simply adjusting.

And so Tsukishima continued to watch, Hinata’s soft breathing nearly lulling him back to sleep.

After minutes of watching and realizing how creepy it was, Tsukishima moved to sit up with a soft exhale, Hinata’s eyes widening a bit.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Even his voice was quieter, and so the blond shrugged.

“I guess. I didn’t sleep much.”

“Good, you don’t deserve any,” Hinata teased, lips twitching into a small smile.

Silence.

Tsukishima swallowed, mouth dry. He’d ask for water before they left. “We should get up if we are going to meet Yamaguchi.”

Hinata nearly jumped up at the reminder. “Right, the cuffs!”

As Hinata began to ramble, Tsukishima could almost feel the amusement. He would have, most likely, had he not felt like the way Hinata was behaving was somewhat forced.

“Oi, stop sitting there, Stingyshima. We have to get ready!”

* * *

 

Tsukishima had never missed the feeling of moving his arm upwards until being cuffed to the second shortest person on his team. He rolled his shoulder, Hinata hugging Yamaguchi and thanking him for his newly found “freedom”.

“Ah, I really am sorry about this…” Yamaguchi said, bowing his head. “Tanaka convinced me and I thought it’d be funny too.”

Hinata grinned, wiggling his free wrist happily. “All that matters is that I’m free!”

Tsukishima pushed air from his nose, but other than that, he didn’t say a word.

“Oi.”

The three turned to see Kageyama standing with his hands in his pockets, head tilted with his hair following his movements. Hinata stepped forward, wiggling his wrist happily as Kageyama's face showed understanding. He nodded, seeming pleased about it as he motioned for Hinata to come to him.

“Let’s go practice.”

Tsukishima raised a brow, eyes narrowing on the setter. He should have expected it, though, considering that Hinata and his majesty practically survived off volleyball alone. 

“Race you to the gym, Bakageyama!”

As the two ran off, Tsukishima could see the grin on Hinata’s lips as he and the king made their way onto school grounds. Meeting at the front gate had been the easiest solution considering Yamaguchi and Tsukishima lived close by. He’d wondered why Hinata hadn’t argued, slowly piecing together that maybe on days like this he’d come to meet the king anyway to practice.

The two versions of Hinata—the silent one from earlier that morning and the loud one he often saw at practice—flickered back and forth in Tsukishima’s mind as he tried to make sense of it.

The difference was too noticeable for him to not be at least somewhat intrigued.

It was only when Yamaguchi’s fingers waved in front of his face that he realized he had been staring, turning to look at his best friend with a confused expression.

“You alright, Tsukki?”

He was perfectly fine. Hinata, however…

“I am considering my best friend cuffed me to someone last night,” Tsukishima spoke, beginning to walk away as Yamaguchi followed, apologies pouring from his lips.

Tsukishima barely paid attention, however, mind too focused on what the next step should be.

The next step to _what,_ he also had to figure out.


End file.
